Corey Patterson Watch: Game Two (BONUS LIVEGLOG)

The Reds beat the D-Backs 6-5 in rather dramatic fashion thanks to Edwin Encarnacion's three-run walkoff homer, but the story I want is Corey. If you remember from earlier this week, Dusty Baker's hand-picked leadoff hitter Corey Patterson had an oh-fer in his first game as a Red. Welp, last night Patterson hit a home run, but I'm not ready to eat my hat quite yet. Yes, he hit the dinger off stud pitcher Dan Haren, but (a) it was a solo job and (b) he's still not taking pitches.

Patterson has a pretty high power/speed number over the course of his career, which means he hits a lot of dingers and steals a bunch of bases. But even the man who invented the stat, Bill James, has said the power/speed number is a 'freakshow stat'. Sure, historically awesome players like Barry Bonds and Willie Mays have high power/speed numbers, but so do historically mediocre players like Ron Gant and Marquis Grissom. Truth is, without a good eye for drawing bases-on-balls, you're just a two-dimensional hitter; I'd rather have that third dimension like drawing walls or a fourth dimension like hitting to the opposite field or even a fifth dimension.

So over the course of the first two games of the season, Corey Patterson is 1-for-8 with a home run and an RBI, and I'm 1-for-2 in predicting Patterson to have a shitty day. He's not in the lineup today against lefty pitcher Doug Davis, so the CPW is taking a day off.

2:08 Adam Dunn and Edwin Encarnacion both ground out against D-Backs reliever Yusmeiro Petit. Hatteberg lines out and we're headed for the 6th.

2:11 Thom and Marty Brennaman are the broadcasters on the Reds radio network. Are they brothers? Father-son? Lovers? Justin Upton just hit a home run. This ends your liveglog.

2:14 Dear Justin Upton, thanks for ruining the perfect game, no-hitter, shutout, and liveglog. Dick. I am Perfect Game Cancer. I once passed up tickets to the David Wells perfect game TO GO TO MY GIRLFRIEND'S GRANDFATHER'S BIRTHDAY PARTY.

13 Comments

"Johnny Cueto is bowling people over down in Florida this spring. The Reds still like last year's big callup, Homer Bailey, but it looks like he may start the year at AAA, giving Cueto a shorter path to the rotation."

Is it me or are there an inordinate amount of young pitchers that have people talking this year? Hughes, Kennedy, Cueto, Bailey, Buchholz, McGowan, Pelfrey, etc. Is it that the vets are mostly average and inconsistent? Or is it that hope springs eternal?